Prepared to answer the critiques of sceptics, we must not think that fulfillment and change means abolition or lower standards. From the Beatitudes, we learned that citizens of the kingdom must hunger and thirst after righteousness. In response to the goodness and grace of God, our desire is to live a life that is pleasing to him. We do not get to decide which laws we will keep and which laws we will ignore. All the moral principles remain, and they continue to be our guide for godly living today. Even the civil and ceremonial laws continue to guide us, though we know that their application will look somewhat different than before.

This is most likely the general meaning of what Jesus says in Matthew 5:19–20. The distinction between least and greatest might imply a differing reward in the new creation, or it simply serves to emphasize the need to obey what Jesus has commanded. Every citizen in the kingdom must be involved in law keeping. It is our response to the grace of God. Likewise, the righteousness that surpasses the Pharisees is not only an encouragement to obey the commandments in light of Christ’s work, but it also refers to their all-encompassing application. They must be kept from the heart. It is not to be just a formal outward obedience that allows me to think I am better than others, as if I am not guilty of murder simply because I have never done the full-blown deed. No, a transformation from within is needed: obedience in thought, word, and deed.

When it comes to the statement about entrance into the kingdom of heaven, it seems as if Jesus is holding up our obedience as a basis for life in the kingdom. Likewise with the Beatitudes, they can be read as a ladder to climb and enter God’s favour. Read in context, however, we remember what we saw previously. The way into the kingdom is through faith in the King; faith in him who came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. The righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees is the one that he provides, even as it is the one that we aim for. And that means that we must approach Jesus’ teaching on the commandments as both a blueprint for godly living, and a promise of what he is going to do in our hearts.

A blueprint for godly living: I know what God wants from me and that it goes beyond the letter of the law. I know that he does not want me to avoid my enemy, but to take active steps towards reconciliation (Matthew 5:21–26). I know that he does not just want me to remain faithful to my spouse but to make it easy for them to live with me (Matthew 5:27–32).

There is a depth to God’s law that I must aim for even if it is one that I cannot achieve. And when I fall short, which I will, I do not change the standards so that they match what I can do. I do not skew the law as if I keep it and others do not. As if murder is limited to the deed and disconnected from what I think and feel. No, I acknowledge my shortcomings, I give thanks for the work of Christ, and pray for the Spirit to change me, to make me into a person that harbours love and not anger, to make me into a person that controls my sexual desires, rather than letting them run wild, and to make me into a person who is kind, generous, patient, prayerful, and content like Jesus was.

Through faith in Jesus Christ, I have been perfected in the sight of God. His righteousness has been imputed to me. He has come to fulfill what was promised to that I can look forward to eternal life in the new creation. Now, by his Spirit, he is conforming me into his image. He is helping me to walk in the ways of his Father. He is showing me how to live, commanding an obedience that is perfect. It is a slow process, a gradual process, a painful process at times. But sanctification is the work that Christ is accomplishing in all those who belong to him. Fulfillment does not mean a lower standard.